Risks Shift as Coverage of Political Unrest Proves Deadly

Pakistan remained the deadliest country for the press for a second year, while across the world coverage of political unrest
proved unusually dangerous in 2011. CPJ's analysis found notable shifts from historical data: Targeted murders declined while
deaths during dangerous assignments such as the coverage of street protests reached their highest level on record. Photographers
and camera operators, often the most vulnerable during violent unrest, died at rates more than twice the historical average.

At least 46 journalists
were killed around the world in direct relation to
their work in 2011, with the seven deaths in Pakistan marking the heaviest
losses in a single nation. Libya and Iraq, each with five fatalities, and Mexico, with three deaths, also ranked high worldwide for journalism-
related
fatalities. The global tally is consistent with the toll recorded in 2010, when
44 journalists died in connection with their work. CPJ is investigating another
35 deaths in
2011 to determine whether they were work-related.

CPJ's survey identified significant changes in the nature of journalist
fatalities. Seventeen journalists died while on dangerous assignments, many of
them while covering the chaotic and violent confrontations between authorities
and protesters during the uprisings that swept the Arab world. The victims
included Hassan al-Wadhaf, a
Yemeni cameraman shot by a sniper while covering anti-government protests in
Sana'a, and Ahmad Mohamed
Mahmoud, an Egyptian reporter gunned down while filming a protest in Cairo.
"Journalists working in this environment are in no less danger than war
correspondents covering an armed conflict," said Ahmed Tarek, a reporter for
the Middle East News Agency who was assaulted by police while covering protests
in Alexandria, Egypt. "The greatest danger journalists are facing today in
post-revolution Arab countries is the targeting of journalists by political
forces hostile to anyone who exposes them."

The 21 murders recorded in 2011 were the lowest total since 2002.
Targeted murders--which historically account for nearly three-quarters of
journalist deaths--constituted less than half of the 2011 toll. But murders were
reported in both Russia
and the Philippines, two countries long plagued by deadly, anti-press
violence. In the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, an assassin waited
outside the offices of the critical independent newspaper Chernovik
and gunned down its founder, Gadzhimurad Kamalov. In
the Philippines, CPJ documented the work-related murders of two radio commentators.
One of them, Romeo Olea,
was shot in the back while riding his motorcycle to work. CPJ is waging a Global
Campaign Against Impunity that
focuses particularly on those two countries.

Eight journalists died in combat situations in 2011, most of them
during the Libyan revolution. The
victims included the internationally acclaimed photojournalists Chris
Hondros and Tim Hetherington, who were killed by a mortar round
in the western city
of Misurata, and Ali Hassan al-Jaber, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera
who was shot outside
Benghazi by forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi. The Libyan conflict was "one of
the truly televised revolutions," said James Foley, an American video
journalist for Global Post who was detained there in April. "Everyone was using a camera--and a camera is much more
recognizable."

Photojournalists
suffered particularly heavy losses in 2011. Photographers and camera operators
constituted about 40 percent of the overall death toll, about double the
proportion CPJ has documented since it began keeping detailed fatality records
in 1992. Among those killed was Lucas
Mebrouk Dolega, a
photographer for European Pressphoto Agency who was struck by a tear gas
canister fired by security forces trying to quell a massive January protest
that led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Nine online journalists
were killed for their work during the year. Among the victims was Mexican
reporter Maria
Elizabeth Macías Castro, whosedecapitated body was found near
the city of Nuevo Laredo, along with a note saying she had been killed for
reporting news on social media websites. Her murder was the first documented by
CPJ worldwide that came in direct relation to journalism published on social
media. The online death toll also included Mohammed al-Nabbous,
founder of the website Libya Al-Hurra TV, who was killed while covering a
battle in Benghazi. Al-Nabbous had been streaming live audio from the scene of
the battle when his feed was suddenly
interrupted by gunfire.

Internet
journalists rarely appeared on CPJ's death toll before 2008. But since that
time, as online journalists constitute an ever-greater proportion of the
front-line reporting corps, the number of victims who worked online has
increased steadily.

CPJ's analysis
also found a high proportion of freelancers among the 2011 victims. One-third
of the toll was composed of freelance journalists, more than twice the
proportion that freelancers have constituted over time. Azerbaijani freelance
reporter Rafiq Tagi died in November after being stabbed on a Baku
street. He had
been threatened over his critical coverage of both Islamist politics and
government policies.

Anti-press
violence continued at high levels in Pakistan, where 29 journalists have died in direct relation
to their work in the past five years. The 2011 victims included Saleem
Shahzad, a reporter for Asia Times Online, who was murdered after exposing links
between Al-Qaeda and Pakistan's navy. Five of the seven fatalities in Pakistan
were targeted murders, and all are unsolved. Long-term CPJ research shows
Pakistan to be among the worst countries in the world in bringing the killers
of journalists to justice. "The solution is simple and very difficult at the
same time," said Pakistani reporter Umar Cheema, who was himself abducted and
brutally assaulted in 2010. "The government should be taking it seriously and
realize it is their duty to protect journalists. If a journalist is threatened,
the culprit should be brought to justice. Even if in one case the culprits were
brought to justice, that would be a clear message that the crime will not go
unpunished."

The death toll in Libya, while high, was unsurprising given the
armed revolt and overall level of violence. That Iraq, with five deaths, matched
Libya's fatality rate illustrates the entrenched level of violence in that
country. After record death tolls in the middle part of the last decade,
fatalities in Iraq began dropping in 2008. But deaths have levelled out in
recent years as journalists continued to die in both targeted murders and
insurgent attacks such as the March assault on a
provincial government building in Tikrit that took the lives of reporters Sabah al-Bazi and Muammar Khadir
Abdelwahad.

In Mexico, CPJ documented three deaths in direct relation to journalism and was
investigating the killings of four other journalists. Mexican authorities
appeared paralyzed in their efforts to combat pervasive anti-press violence;
Congress continued to debate legislation in late year that would federalize
crimes against free expression, taking the cases out of the hands of local
officials who have been corrupted and cowed by criminal gangs. Mexican
journalists continue to face a dark choice: Censor their own work or be at
risk. Noel López Olguín,
whose newspaper column "With a Lead Pen" took on drug trafficking and official
corruption, was found in a clandestine grave in Veracruz state in May, two months after gunmen had abducted him.

Afghanistan and Somalia, two conflict-ridden countries
with persistent levels of anti-press violence, each recorded fatalities in 2011.
CPJ documented the deaths of two journalists and
one media worker in Somalia, along with the killings of two journalists in Afghanistan. Two of the deaths, though a
continent apart,
bore similarities that illustrate the extreme danger of covering conflict. In
Somalia, African Union troops fired on a humanitarian aid convoy, killing
Malaysian cameraman Noramfaizul
Mohd. The AU called the shooting accidental but released no details. In
Afghanistan, a U.S. soldier shot Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak,
a correspondent for Pajhwok Afghan News and the BBC, during an insurgent attack
in Tarin Kot. The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan concluded
that the soldier mistook Khpalwak's press card for a bomb trigger.

Two journalists died in Bahraini government custody. Karim Fakhrawi, a
founder of the independent newspaper Al-Wasat,
and Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri, editor of a
local news website in the
village of Al-Dair, died within a week of each other in April. Although the
government claimed the two died of natural causes, there were widespread
allegations that abusive treatment led to their deaths. Al-Wasat co-founder Mansoor al-Jamri said the death of Fakhrawi
was
a message from the government to its critics: "This could happen to you, and no
one will protect you, and no one can do anything for you."

Here are other
trends and details that emerged in CPJ's analysis:

The heaviest losses occurred in nations across the Middle East and
North Africa, where CPJ documented 19 work-related fatalities in all. Thirteen
work-related deaths were documented in Asia, eight in the Americas, four in
Africa, and two in Europe and Central Asia.

In two countries, Tunisia
and Syria, CPJ recorded the
first work-related deaths since it began compiling detailed data two decades
ago. In Syria, freelance cameraman Ferzat Jarban was tortured and
slain in Homs province after he had covered antigovernment demonstrations. "The
work of a reporter in Syria before and after the protests is much like working
in a minefield," said Karim al-Afnan, a freelance journalist who was forced into
exile in 2011. "The state views a journalist as a rival and their battle with
journalists is one for survival."

Five media support workers were killed
worldwide. They include the Ivorian Marcel Legré, a printing
press employee who was killed by supporters of Alassane Ouattara who at the
time was locked in a presidential election dispute with incumbent Laurent
Gbagbo. Legré's newspaper was seen as pro-Gbagbo.

At least two journalists were reported missing
during the year, both in Mexico. At least 11 journalists have been reported missing
in Mexico over the past decade, by far the highest number worldwide. All are
feared dead.

Among murder victims, more than 70 percent had reported receiving
threats in the weeks before they died. Long-term CPJ research shows that
physical attacks are often preceded by phone or electronic threats.

Of the 35 deaths in which CPJ has yet
to confirm a work-related motive, a large number,
20, are in the Americas. In much of the Americas, the web of crime and official
corruption, combined with a lack of effective law enforcement, makes the determination
of a motive exceedingly difficult.

CPJ began compiling detailed records on all
journalist deaths in 1992. CPJ staff members independently investigate and
verify the circumstances behind each death. CPJ considers a case work-related
only when its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in
direct reprisal for his or her work; in crossfire; or while carrying out a
dangerous assignment.

If the motives in a killing are unclear,
but it is possible that a journalist died in relation to his or her work, CPJ
classifies the case as "unconfirmed" and continues to investigate. CPJ's list
does not include journalists who died from illness or were killed in
accidents--such as car or plane crashes--unless the crash was caused by hostile
action. Other press organizations using different criteria cite higher numbers
of deaths than CPJ.

This
report was compiled by CPJ staff with additional reporting by Kristin Jones and
Dahlia El-Zein.